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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/16156327

How The West Underdeveloped Haiti

The economic base of fascism has always been the petit bourgeois, or as I like to call them, the roofing class. Small business owners. The guys who have a handful of contractors and pay 1,200 bucks a month on an F-150 Raptor that’s never been used for any kind of manual labor.

Every worker in this country has always been at the mercy of the elite, but not the elite fascists assume are pulling the strings. It’s not a shadow cabal of elite Jews, it’s just the people who own the means of production. They’re not shy about it. People like Warren Buffet routinely admit there’s a class war being waged, and that the capitalists want to make sure that they win it.

On the whole, there’s a reason the ruling class tolerates fascism and not socialism. Socialism is genuinely revolutionary, whereas fascism is just a cancerous offshoot of capitalism that can, in their mind, be used as a tool when needed.

What we’re seeing today has the same hallmarks of every other period where fascism has grown in popularity: economic insecurity, the formation of fascist paramilitaries, and a series of charismatic figures trying to tap into the rising tide of far-right populism for personal gain.

Join me, Maggie Mae Fish (she/her), as I explore the history of labor in Hollywood and the House Un-American Activities Committee that led to blacklists. It’s all sadly relevant! From “woke” panic to “cultural marxism,” it’s all the same as the far-right teams up with literal gangsters to crush the working class.

Relatedly:
The Marc Steiner Show: The white identity politics of Christian nationalism From the colonial period to now, the hallmarks of Christian nationalism—a white savior complex, hostility to democracy, appeals to selective authoritarian violence—have thoroughly shaped American politics.

“Most Americans were shocked by the violence they witnessed at the nation’s Capital on January 6th, 2021,” as the description of Philip S. Gorski and Samuel L. Perry’s new book, The Flag and the Cross, notes. “And many were bewildered by the images displayed by the insurrectionists: a wooden cross and wooden gallows; “Jesus saves” and “Don’t Tread on Me;” Christian flags and Confederate Flags; even a prayer in Jesus’ name after storming the Senate chamber. Where some saw a confusing jumble,” though, Gorski and Perry “saw a familiar ideology: white Christian nationalism.” In this episode of The Marc Steiner Show, Marc speaks with Gorski and Perry about their book, the white identity politics of Christian nationalism, and the deep political roots of today’s reactionary Christian right.

Philip S. Gorski, Professor of Sociology at Yale University, is a comparative and historical sociologist who writes on religion and politics in early modern and modern Europe and North America. He is the author of numerous books, including American Babylon: Christianity and Democracy Before and After Trump and American Covenant: A History of Civil Religion from the Puritans to the Present. Samuel L. Perry, Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Oklahoma, is a sociologist of American religion, race, politics, sexuality, and families. He has authored and co-authored numerous books, including Growing God’s Family, Addicted to Lust, and Taking America Back for God.